Chapter 65
(Phoebe's POV)
Exhaustion. I thought I knew what it was like, but this is a whole new ball game. Chasing after a toddler with a newborn is no joke. Not to mention I am being sued by James Moore for assault. Poor Teddy is working overtime doing his job andour cases. I tried to tell him we would find another lawyer, but he wasn't having it.
I am reading over Jame's statement. He said that I threatened to kill him and charged at him so he had to push me. The times I wish I was crazy and had cameras all over my house are now. I have Sawyer attached to my boob as I read it. He is fucking crazy.
I try to not talk to Nathan about it. He refuses to believe that this is not his fault. He regrets not being awake and he is so angry that it is his dad doing this. I hate James Moore with all of my heart. He is scum to this earth.
I shake my head and switch Sawyer to the other breast. She has been eating for about 20 minutes. Hungry girl. She is almost two weeks old too.
Yesterday, Henry and I had a mommy son day. We went to the park and got ice cream, just us two. Now Nathan has him for a daddy son day and they are going to the lego store and dinner. I sigh and call my dad.
"Hey Bubs, what's up?" He asks, answering on the first ring.
"Just feeding Sawyer, Nathan has Henry and is having a special day with him," I say.
"That is awesome, are you getting more sleep?" He asks. I laugh at the thought of that.
"No, she was up 4 times last night," I say.
"Oh Bubs, Are you sure your mom and I can't help?" He asks.
"Not unless you can breastfeed her at night," I say and that makes him laugh.
"Trust me we are fine, she is worth it," I say.
"Yes she is, I loved that picture you sent us, keep them coming," he says and I smile. He is so in love with his grandkids.
"I will, I was calling to ask about the lawsuit, is there anyway that we can get this so it doesn't go to trial? I mean clearly I didn't touch him, I had a newborn in my arms," I say. My dad sighs and I can picture him running his hands through his hair.
"Bubs, after talking to Teddy, I think it is going to have to," he says and I sigh. This is one big shit show.
"Shit," I say. Sawyer unlatches and I pull her up to my shoulder. I start to burp her.
"There is no chance of him winning, if anything he is trying to lessen his sentence. His lawyer is one of the best criminal defense lawyers in the country. Where he got the money for that I am not sure," he says and I sigh.
"This is a shit show," I say and Sawyer burps. I laugh at that.
"You are right it is, I wish we could take it all away," he says and I nod. I wish that too.
"Did I hear Claire is going to stay with you?" My dad asks.
"Yes, Susan leaves tomorrow for Thailand, she was going to leave Claire home by herself for 3 weeks. Nathan was not having it, so she is going to stay with us," I say.
"Hmm, yeah I don't think I would leave a teenager unattended at my house," he says and I nod. Claire is as Harmless as they come, but with everything happening with her brother I wouldn't want to leave her alone.
"Agreed. She'll be with us which honestly will be great. Henry is so excited he keeps asking when Cece is coming," I say and my dad laughs.
"I want to take him on the yacht soon," my dad says and I smile.
"I know, you told him about that last time you were here and now every night when we do our prayers he says "and Bubs and Henry have special boat day," I say and my dad starts laughing.
"I love that boy," he says and I smile.
"He loves you, hey Sawyer just fell asleep, so I am going to put her in her bassinet upstairs, I love you," I say.
"I love you more, Bubs," he says.
After we hang up, I put Sawyer in her bassinet. I eat a quick dinner of chicken and rice. I decide to start cleaning up the kitchen and living room. It looks like a bomb went off of burp cloths and toddler toys.
I sit down on the couch. I need to pump. My milk supply is up so much my boobs are screaming for relief. I hook myself up and turn on the news. What I see makes my mouth drop open.
The headline is "Christian Grey CEO of Grey Enterprises daughter being charged with assault," my mouth drops open. What the fuck?
I grab my phone calling Teddy. "Hey Bubs," he doesn't get to finish before I am telling him to turn on the news.
"Jesus H, Bubs I am going to take care of this. James' lawyer is a Fucking snake," he says and hangs up.
I have a job as a child psychologist. This being on the news is the last thing I need. I could get fired. Panic fills me. I quickly turn off the television.
I get a call from security telling me that there are reporters outside our gate. Just fucking great. I want to punch James in his smug stupid face.
I think about what he did to me. Then I realized when he came into our house he said he had to tell us something. What was it that he needed to say? Curiosity fills me.
There is no way I will find out now. He is in jail. I could visit him. Nathan's would never let me. He'd kill me if I tried.
I unhook myself from the pump and store the bottles in the fridge. I check on Sawyer and sit back down on the couch. I look down at my phone and see Maisy calling me.
"Hey Mase," I say.
"Hey girl, um anything you want to tell me," she asks. I figure she is watching the news. Maisy works for a news station.
"Well, I am not being charged with assault. I was assaulted if anything," I say and hear her gasp.
"Phoebe, what is happening last time We talked you were in newborn bliss," she says and I sigh.
"A lot I guess," I say.
"Anyway how is Oakley," I ask.
"10 months and learning more everyday. Phoebe, she crawled yesterday. Crawled, I cried. She is going to be going to college soon," she says and I laugh. I understand her now that I have Sawyer. Even in the 12 days she's been alive, I feel like she has grown so much.
Sawyer starts to cry so I pick her up and rock her. She states into my eyes. She is the most perfect little girl. I giggle as Sawyer grunts. Pooping time.
"Phoebe?" Maisy says.
"Sorry, got lost in the newborn bliss. WhAt did you ask?" I say.
"How is your girl?" She asks.
"She is great, she gained an ounce this week," I say and Maisy laughs.
"Send more pictures. I am obsessed with her little cheeks," Maisy says.
"Pheebs, if you ever need anything you know to call right?" She asks.
"Of course, Maisy. Thank you for being there for me," I say and she says anytime.
We hang up and I changed Sawyer who makes poops the size of her body. I get rid of the diaper and change her into little cheetah print jammies. I swaddle her and pick her up.
I am putting her down for her first window of sleep. I don't go to bed til her second. I lay her down in the bassinet and put in a pacifier. She is out like a light when I turn her sound machine on.
When I go back out to the main room, Nathan and Henry are coming in. Henry is carrying a Lego stuffed animal and a half eaten cookie.
"Mommy," he yells and runs towards me. I bend down and take him in my arms.
"Hi baby," I say and he smiles.
"I gots dis and dis and daddy got baket ball Lego," he says and I smile laughing.
"Wow it looks like you had so much fun," I say and he nods. He holds out his cookie to me and I take a pretend bite.
"Mmmm" I say and he laughs running back to Nathan.
"Hey baby," he says and leans down kissing me.
"Hi," I smile. "How bad is it out there?" I ask.
"There are a couple cars. I talked to Teddy and Kevin. They are clearing it up. We can sue James for leaking this," he says and I shake my head.
Nathan wraps his arms around me tightly. "When is it going to end? We can't just keep suing each other," I say and Nathan rests his chin on my head hugging me.
"I know," he says and rubs my back.
"Momma sad?" Henry asks running over.
"No buddy," I smile and bend down to his level.
"Why don't we go take a bath," I tell him smiling.
"Will you watch her, I'll get him to bed," I say to Nathan. He nods and takes the monitor.
"Have you eaten?" He asks. I nod and usher Henry up the stairs.
"Phoebe?" Nathan says not believing me.
"Dude, I had chicken and rice," I say and he laughs at me for calling him dude.
I take Henry upstairs and out him in the bath. I wash him extra well. Legoland is a germ fest. He is telling me all about what he and Nathan did.
"I love daddy," Henry says and I smile. He is so sweet.
"I love daddy too," I say and Henry nods. I get him out of the tub and put on his race car jammies.
"Mommy, why sissy sleep in you room. Not me?" Henry asks. Oh boy.
"Since sissy is little she has to wake up sometimes during the night. We don't want her to wake you up when she cries so we keep her with us. She will be in her room in a couple of months," I say and Henry nods like he is thinking about it.
"I sleep in you room when I was a little baby?" He asks. I pause.
I don't know how to answer this. Henry was little when he came here and I think most of his memories are from here. He sees Sawyer coming here from birth and rightfully assumes that's how he was.
"Read dis," Henry holds up goodnight moon. He already forgot that he asked me a question. I am going to have to talk to Nathan about how we want to handle his questions about his past going forward.
Halfway through Goodnight Moon, Henry is out. I turn on his sound machine and kiss his head walking out. I go downstairs and see Nathan eating leftovers. I kiss his shoulder as I walk by.
"How was Sawyer while we were gone?" Nathan asks.
"Good, she slept and ate and pooped," I say and Nathan smiles.
"Babe upstairs Henry asked about himself when he was a baby," I say and Nathan looks over at me. I explain what happened and Nathan sighs.
"He is too young to understand the foster home and adoption process," Nathan says and I nod.
"But I also don't want him to grow up believing we are his birth parents and then one day we turn his world upside down by saying we aren't," I say and Nathan nods.
"We just need to be honest with him. We can remind him how much we love him and how happy we are that we got to adopt him when he asks questions," I say and Nathan agrees.
"We are just going to have to navigate it together," Nathan says and I nod smiling. There is no one else I would rather navigate this with.
"What time is Claire coming over tomorrow?" I ask Nate. He has been texting with her.
"Susan leaves tomorrow in the morning super early, so since it is a Sunday she'll just come when she wakes up," Nathan says and I nod.
"What are we going to do about the paparazzi outside," I ask him.
"Ignore it, they will have a new story in a few days. Ted is working to figure out how to control it," Nathan says and I rub my temples. I am too exhausted to deal with this.
"It'll blow over," Nathan says rubbing my shoulders.
"I just am worried about the hospital seeing this," I say and Nathan nods.
"Can you call Leanne and explain?" Nathan asks. Leanna runs the psychology department. She is my boss.
"I will tomorrow, I need sleep for now," I say and Nathan nods. We go into our bedroom and quietly get ready for bed. Sawyer is in her bassinet still asleep.
I climb into bed and close my eyes. Nathan climbs in behind me. "I love you," he mumbles against my shoulder.
Before we know it Sawyer is up and hungry. I reach over to the bassinet and pick her up. Nathan stirs beside me. I don't wake him. I slip Sawyer under my shirt and nurse her.
I stroke her little cheeks as she nurses. Exhaustion hits me full force. I look to see that we were only asleep for about 60 minutes. I switch breasts.
After about 10 minutes she is back to sleep. I lay her on the bed and velcro her swaddle. I put in her pacifier and lay her back down. I watch her to make sure she goes back down. I lay back and fall asleep.
I am awoken by Nathan's phone ringing. He is not on call, he is still on paternity leave. I roll over and shake him. He sits up groggily. "Your phone," I say and he reaches over and grabs it. I am half asleep by the time he answers it.
"What?" I hear him say. I ignore it and keep trying to fall back asleep.
"Baby, I gotta go I will be right back," I hear him say and now I am awake.
"What?" I say sitting up.
"GO back to sleep, I am running out," he says and I am so confused.
"Nathan," I say.
"Claire threw a party, the police are at Susan's," he says and I roll over. Sawyer wakes up for her next feeding.
"Get her back down, I will be back," Nathan says and is out the door before I know it.
(Nathan's POV)
I get into the car and speed off towards Susan's. I am pissed and exhausted. I didn't want to have to tell Phoebe because I know she'll be worried about Claire now.
Claire called me sobbing. A police officer took the phone and explained that they were called to the house because of a noise complaint and found the kids having a party. Susan must have left earlier and Claire didn't tell us.
Phoebe and I have been getting less than 4 hours of sleep a night. This interruption in our sleep schedule is less than welcomed. Claire is as much as our daughter as Henry and Sawyer, so duty calls.
When I pull up to Susan's house there are 2 cop cars parked out front. I get out and walk inside the house. When I do there is a sobbing Claire with William's arm wrapped around her. Parents of one kid yelling at him.
"Hi officer, I am her guardian. I am Nathan Moore," I say not looking at Claire and talking to the police officer. He looks me up and down.
"You her father?" The cop scowls.
"No, foster parent," I say sharply.
"Claire Williams had a party. A bunch of kids ran. We confiscated the booze. We have to wait until all kids are picked up," he says.
"Is anyone being charged?" I ask.
"Do I look like I have time to charge all these kids. As long as you take her and don't let her have another party, then we can let it go," he says.
"Thank you, officer," I say to him and shake his hand.
"In the meantime, sign this," he shoves a ticket at me. I sign it and hand it back to him.
"Thanks. She's lucky we aren't charging her," he says and looks at Claire. She is staring at us. I need to cool down before I talk to her. I am pissed. Pissed is an understatement actually. The exhaustion isn't helping.
"Nathan," William starts.
"William, does your mom know you are here?" I ask him.
"No," he says.
"Call her and I will drop you off on the way," I say and William nods pulling out his phone.
Claire comes up to me and I shake my head. "Sit down. We are leaving immediately once the last kid gets picked up," I snap. She looks down at the ground and sits back down.
I start cleaning up. "Nathan you don't have to," Claire says.
"Not now" I snap at her. I am fucking exhausted. She cries into Williams' shoulder. If I had more than 2 hours of sleep under my belt, I might have dealt with this differently.
The last kids mom comes and is furious. The kid is blonde and looks to be Claire's age. "Are you her father?" The woman who is older than me asks.
"Yes," I say not having it in me to explain further.
"How could you let this happen. This is absolutely ridiculous. Do you really let kids drink under your roof," she gets in my face. I stand there emotionless.
"Ma'am, step back," the officer says stepping forward.
"I was not here. If I had been, children would not have been drinking. I apologize," I say to her calmly. I really would like to say something else, but I don't have it in me.
"You are an irresponsible parent," she spits at me and walks out gripping her son by the shoulder. She has no clue about anything about me.
"You are lucky, we aren't charging you," the cop says to Claire and she nods.
"Here is teen alcohol resources," the quieter cop says to me. He hands me a paper and I thank him. He is young. Younger than me.
After the cops leave it is just Claire, William and I. "Let's go. Get in the car," I say to them. William let's Claire walk in front of him. I lock the door and walk to my car. They both sit in the back.
"Nathan, I'm sorry," Claire says. I don't speak because I don't want to lose it.
I drive to William's house. On the porch, Mia is waiting. She walks to the car and I roll down the window. "Nathan hun, I am so sorry. This is the last thing you need with a newborn at home," she says and I give her a small smile.
"It's okay, Mia. I am just glad they aren't in legal trouble," I say and she nods.
Behind me William kisses Claire before getting out. Mia puts her hand on his shoulder.
"Legal trouble is the least of this kids' worries," she says and I refrain from laughing.
"Get home and get some sleep, love on that baby too," she says and I thank her and pull out of their driveway.
On the ride home, I hear Claire crying behind me. I don't have it in me to talk right now. Anything I say will jot be helpful. I can hear Phoebe in my head telling me to take a deep breath.
"I'm sorry," Claire says again and I make eye contact with her in the rearview mirror. She looks a mess. Her makeup is smeared and she is sobbing.
I pull into the driveway and into the garage. Luckily, the paps have called it quits for the night. That'd be a whole other issue.
We walk inside. Claire stumbles and I place my hand on her shoulder to steady her. I smell the booze coming off her. She is drunk. Very drunk.
"Sit in the kitchen I'll be back," I snap at her. She nods and goes to sit on a barstool.
I go into our room and luckily Phoebe is just waking up to feed her. I know we have bottles in the fridge that Phoebe pumped. I pick up Sawyer before Phoebe can and whisk her out of the room.
Once Sawyer is in my arms she calms down. I breathe in her newborn scent. She really is the most perfect baby. Dad bias aside.
I go into the kitchen and pull out a water bottle for Claire and a bottle for Sawyer. I warm up the bottle and rock Sawyer. I guide the bottle nipple to her mouth. She latched on and starts eating.
"Explain," I say to Claire.
"I-I didn't mean to. It was going to be s s small and then more people showed up. William graduated and I I," she is sobbing so hard now. I rock Sawyer gently as I feed her.
"Claire," I say again.
"I just wanted to have something to c celebrate Will," Claire cries.
I know we drank in high school. I am not mad at her for drinking. Actually, I am mad at her for getting this out of hand. I am also mad because she lied to us. I am mad because she hosted people to drink. I am just pissed.
"Do you understand how stupid this was?" I ask her. She nods and wipes her nose with the back of her hand.
"Claire, this is a liability. If someone would have gotten hurt you could have been in legal trouble. Hell, you should be in legal trouble," I say trying not to yell.
"This is the second time this has happened. This is ridiculous behavior. You lied to Phoebe and me, you lied to Susan," I say and she is sobbing now.
"I'm s so so sorry," she sobs.
"It is 3 in the morning. We have a newborn Claire. This was downright selfish," I say and she nods.
"How much did you drink?" I ask her.
"Nothing," she says. Sawyer finishes the bottle so I prop her on my chest and begin to burp her.
"How much did you drink?" I ask again. I can smell the booze coming off of her.
"I had a cup," she says.
"Of what?" I ask.
"I don't know, my friend made it," she sobs. Great. She had way more than one cup and doesn't know what she drank. Sawyer spits up on my shoulder. Great.
"Stay here." I say to Claire. I go back to our room. My beautiful wife is out. She really is a vision. I smile as she kicked her covers off.
I change Sawyer's diaper and put her pack in her swaddle. She is back asleep and sucking on her pacifier. I slip off my spit up soaked shirt and put on a new one.
I walk back out to find Claire not sitting at the table. I look to see the bathroom light on. I walk towards the door and hear her dry heaving. I quickly open the door and find Claire vomiting into the toilet.
I am behind her in an instant. I pull her hair back and hold it out of her face. "Let it out" I say. She is sobbing and my heart constricts. I feel awful. She starts trying to stand.
"Claire, no," I say and keep her by the toilet.
"I'm… I'm… sorry," she is sobbing and working herself up.
"Claire, shh," I say and rub her back. She starts throwing up again. I look over her and see it's all stomach bile.
"Okay, Claire sit back," I say and lean her against the wall. I get a wet wash cloth and start cleaning her face up.
"I'm sorry," she keeps saying as she sobs.
"No more of that," I say and finish cleaning her up. I don't want to put anything in her system that she can throw up.
She is sitting with her head against her knees sobbing. If she keeps working herself up she is going to throw up again. "Claire, come on," I say and help her stand. She starts toppling forward. We sit on the big living room couch. I set her down and sit next to her.
"Hey, shh," I say and hold her to me.
"You hate me," she sobs.
I rub her back and hold her to my chest. She wraps her arms around me so tightly. "I could never," I say.
"Shhhh," I say and rub her back. Her sobs become heavy breaths.
"You're okay," I say and rub her back.
I hold her to my chest a bit longer before she relaxes. She lays her head down on my lap and I run my hands through her hair. She is passed out within seconds. I check my watch. 4 am. Sawyer will be up in about 30-45 minutes. If I fall asleep I will be more groggy.
I pick Claire up and take her to our guest room. I set her on the bed and tuck her in. She must have been very drunk as she doesn't even so much as stir.
It is going to be a very long morning.